The government has initiated the UCF (Unique Case File) scheme in which
any foreign national, who wishes to come to India on a tourist visa,
must provide their fingerprints and other details on their E-Visa
request forms.

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Jitendra Bahadur Singh

New Delhi

May 24, 2016

UPDATED: May 24, 2016 13:38 IST

Tourists in Delhi. Reuters photo

HIGHLIGHTS

Database will help security agencies keep a tab on suspicious travellers.

Travellers seeking tourist visa will have to provide finger prints.

The TSC maintains the US govt's consolidated terrorist watchlist.

In wake of the heightened threat from ISIS and Pakistan-based terror groups, India is planning to create a data base of foreign tourists visiting the country, similar to the one being used by the US.

According to reports, security agencies have already collected fingerprints from 10 lakh foreign tourists through the E-visa system.How the data will be collected

The government has initiated the UCF (Unique Case File) scheme in which any foreign national, who wishes to come to India on a tourist visa, must provide their fingerprints and other details on their E-Visa request forms.

Why it is important

Once implemented, the database will help Indian security agencies keep a tab on suspicious travellers. David Coleman Headley, the American terrorist of Pakistani origin who helped Lashkar-e-Taiba plot the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, had frequently travelled to India to recce the attack sites.

Headley, who is currently behind bars at an undisclosed location in the US, had used a tourist visa to gain entry into India but our security agencies had failed to keep track of him due to lack of information.

India's no to global terror database

The Modi government had recently decided not to join a global terror database maintained by the US after the security agencies raised objections over it.

Both the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had questioned providing unrestricted access to US agencies to the database of terror suspects in India.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh was expected to sign a deal with his US counterpart Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security, during the bilateral homeland security meet in June. However, the proposal has now been put on the backburner.

How the US keeps check on suspect travellers

The Terrorist Screening Center or TSC of the US government was born after the deadly September 11, 2001 terror attacks. Established in 2003, the TSC maintains the US government's consolidated terrorist watchlist.

The TSC helps US agencies get information about terror suspects trying to obtain visas or enter the country.

There was widespread anger in India after superstar Shah Rukh Khan was detained and questioned for hours in two separate instances in the US after his name cropped up on a computer alert.